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Why Macdonald looms doubly large in Ontario history

Sir John A. Macdonald was not only the country’s first prime minister; he was also the last premier of Canada West, what Ontario was called before Confederation.

With Confederation, Sir John (you’ll see in a second why I’m not referring to him as Macdonald) became prime minister. He suggested Lieutenant Governor Sir Henry William Stisted ask John Sandfield Macdonald to become the premier of the new province of Ontario, effective July 15, 1867.

Sandfield had served as premier of another version of Ontario in 1863-64. At the time he opposed Confederation. He was against the speed with which the new coalition was formed and said the challenge of Confederation wasn’t found in the constitution, but in “demagogues and designing persons who sought to create strife between the sections.”

However, being a realist, he accepted the reality that the provinces would form a confederation, so beginning in 1866 he started working at trying to incorporate some of his views into the framework for confederation.

His moderate views brought the two Macdonalds together, and so Sir John put the bug in Stisted’s ear.

It’s said the Macdonald duo “hunted in pairs,” sweeping the province in the provincial election that followed Confederation. Sandfield was elected as a member to both federal and provincial houses for the Cornwall area, which can’t happen today but wasn’t all that unusual at the time.

Sandfield had been ill for years and had serious lung problems, but his government accomplished much in the new province. (He was re-elected twice as premier.)

Its major success was the passing of the Homestead Act, offering free land in the Hastings, Haliburton and Muskoka district. In fact, much of the impetus for the young country and optimistic province was growth of settlement and exploitation of resources. Railways, lumber, mining and development were the leading issues of the day.

Sandfield also focused on education. Having seen the influence of Orangemen in the province for decades, he was fiercely opposed to any connection between church and state, so directed funding for the University of Toronto away from the denominational colleges.

Sandfield also pushed for a heavier emphasis on science and math, and a larger contribution from municipalities to schools. And his government passed legislation both for an institution that would become Toronto’s Ryerson University and for a new agricultural college that would become the University of Guelph.

Sandfield led the overhaul of asylum and prison system facilities, including the modernization of the Toronto Asylum for the Insane and the construction of a new asylum for London, the Ontario Institute for the Blind in Brantford and the Institution for the Deaf and Dumb in Belleville.

It was hard for opposition parties to attack his government record of legislation, so the Grits focused on calling Sandfield the prime minister’s kept man.

The 1871 provincial elections left Sandfield’s government weakened, and his health was quickly diminishing. By the spring of 1872, Sandfield could barely serve and found himself in opposition after a vote of non-confidence in his government. On June 1, he died.

Sandfield’s success at setting the province on the road to the future is often attributed to two main strengths: his wife, Christine, who helped build his personal appeal and support through her deft hand in the social arts, and his creative ability to build the solid infrastructure of a modern Ontario.

Tom Villemaire is a writer based in Toronto and the Bruce Peninsula. Tom@Historylab.ca